2020 Category Captain for Cold & Frozen Beverages: Frazil
Frazil has transformed the frozen beverage space in a very short time with a new product backed by a significant investment in research and understanding the customer. The supplier has helped change the way retailers evaluate and manage the frozen beverages category.
The category has long been plagued by high equipment costs and unpredictable service needs and costs. With the level of fixed investment required, high-performing products and programs have been necessary to achieve required targets and to clear profitability hurdles. Over the past several years, Frazil has driven disruptive growth and innovation in the category by delivering on all of retailers' needs for lower-cost equipment and dependable service.
Frazil has achieved explosive growth for retailers through its "slushie-as-a-service" bundle.
A common deterrent keeping convenience store operators out of the frozen dispensed beverage business is their lack of interest in buying equipment. Retailers have historically been required to make substantial investments in capital and equipment management to enter the category. This investment brings with it high levels of risk and requires strong program performance to ensure profitability. Frazil has unlocked the category and expanded frozen beverage to many new retailers as the leading provider of loaned equipment. Retailers who participate in Frazil’s bundle program get a machine placed in their store at no cost, ensuring they are making money from day one.
Service is a constant frustration for retailers in this category. Machines often break down. Larger chains often have the scale to absorb the cost of a dedicated service team, but this is both time-consuming and expensive. For smaller operators, this often isn’t feasible. A few bad service calls can completely wipe out the profits from the category for the year. Frazil takes care of the service hassle by managing all reactive service requests with a 48-hour service guarantee window. Also, Frazil helps de-risk the service cost by absorbing all service costs.
Customers pay a higher cost per case on the Frazil bundle program than if they owned the equipment and managed their own service, but retailers take comfort in knowing that they are guaranteed to make money in the category, and can focus on that. This dedication to customer service has helped make Frazil a first-time Category Captain winner.
In the last two years alone, more than 6,000 new c-stores have brought Frazil into their stores. For many, this represents their first entry into the frozen beverages category.
